About 90 dogs being removed from Randolph home

Friday

May 30, 2008 at 12:01 AMMay 30, 2008 at 10:12 AM

Scores of dogs and puppies were removed from a home on Thayer Circle Thursday night that was being used as an illegal kennel.

Fred Hanson

Lt. Alan Borgal of the Animal Rescue League of Boston couldn’t believe what he saw inside the house at 8 Thayer Circle. “I’ve been the state humane officer for 28 years, and it’s the worst I’ve ever seen in there,” said Borgal, who is in the league’s law enforcement department.

Some animals were running free in the house; others were kept in cages. The basement was apparently used for breeding.

“They turned this whole house into a kennel,” Borgal said. “This meets no kennel standard. There’s no place any person or animal can stand where there is not filth. This is horrendous. Animals should not be kept in this. This is severe neglect and causing suffering to animals.”

Scores of dogs and puppies were removed.

“There’s approximately 90 dogs and puppies,” Christopher Smalley, the league’s communications director, said at the scene.

Police went to 8 Thayer Circle at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. They were summoned by the owner of the ranch-style house, who had checked the property.

The Animal Rescue League’s law enforcement department obtained a search warrant, and the warrant was served at 4:42 p.m. Thursday.

Some of the workers donned hazardous-materials suits before entering the house, and most wore masks. An examining area was set up in the back yard so a team of veterinarians could check the animals before they were taken away. The process lasted for several hours.

Smalley said some of the dogs were taken by ambulance to the emergency departments at local animal hospitals. Others will be housed at league facilities, where they will undergo further evaluation, he said.

At least one mother with a litter of puppies was taken from the scene in an ambulance. On-site administering of medication was done for many of the dogs.

A town official said it is believed the house is leased to Linda Snow, the owner of Missy’s Puppy Land on Park Street in Stoughton. She may have subleased the house to another individual, the official said.

The store was closed late Thursday afternoon. A telephone message left for Snow was not returned last night. The phone number was given on one of the Web sites Snow uses to advertise puppies.

Snow advertises on the Web sites Next Day Pets and Snow’s Cockapoos. Listings included a Tiny Yorkie for $1,500 and cockapoos, laberdoodles, chows and a Maltese selling for several hundred dollars each.

The store was investigated last year by the Stoughton Board of Health. Board members were accompanied by an animal control officer and a representative of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Former Stoughton Health Inspector Mark Taylor said the store was never shut down during his 2½-year tenure, but he received noise and odor complaints from neighboring homes and businesses.

“I walked through place twice and there were no health violations as far as humans, which is what I’m looking for,” Taylor said, “but it smelled like Pine-Sol and seemed like they knew we were coming.”

Rick Bagtaz of 869 Park St. said the store “smelled bad, like it wasn't clean.”

Randolph officials and Thayer Circle residents were not aware that the house at 8 Thayer Circle was being used as a kennel.

“There hasn’t been a dog registered there since 2004, according to the animal control officer’s records,” Randolph Town Clerk Brian Howard said.

Neighbors reported seeing a man and a woman at the house, and a few dogs.

“I know most of the neighbors here, but I don’t know anything about him,” said Victor Calheta, 22, who lives next door at 6 Thayer Circle. “I just didn’t know anybody in that house at all. It was a little strange, but we never spoke at all.”

Whether to seek criminal charges against the kennel operators has not been decided, Borgal said.

“It’s an ongoing investigation,” he said.

A condemnation notice from the town’s board of health was posted on the front door of the house.

Assisting in the investigation is the Randolph Police Department and its animal control officer, Stephen Slavinsky, and the state Department of Agricultural Resources.

Thayer Circle is a quiet neighborhood of ranch houses off Chestnut Street.

The Patriot Ledger

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